This year is off to a roaring start—and I’m ahead of schedule, apparently. This episode is about the two main events so far this year: My birthday in January, and the death of our cat Bella last week. I do the sad part first. My birthday celebrations basically lasted a week, which was nice, and I talk about that, as well as why this particular birthday was such a big deal for me. I also have good intentions for what I’ll do about it—or maybe it’s “with it”.

Last chance to post an episode before the USA’s Thanksgiving holiday, so here I am! I begin talking about the Pike River mine disaster, because we’ve had a major development. Then, it’s a sad and fraught story about division and a huge fight in Auckland’s “rainbow communities”. I also talk about how I’ve had to explain the USA’s recent elections to New Zealanders, which isn’t new, actually. Then I have a question and some comments from the previous episode. Consider this the aural equivalent of a Thanksgiving feast!

Today I talk a bit about how the Royal Tour was received in New Zealand. That leads into a couple other issues in the NZ news. I also provide a wider explanation of something I talked about in AmeriNZ Podcast episode 338. Last time, I also had some health updates and I had colds. This episode has similar topics, as it turns out. And, today is a big anniversary.

This is a LONG episode, but it was so much fun to record! One of the first podcasts (other than my own) that I was on was a group show on the original ArcherRadio (his episode 421). That was WAY back in March 2007. Then, he was on my podcast—episode 8—in May 2007. So, we have a long history—and it shows in this chat, I think.

We cover a lot of the LGBT podcasting history we experienced, a bit about where it’s heading, and all sorts of other things. Interestingly, despite our shared passion for politics, we don’t really talk about it much—THIS time! It was fun, but back to normal AmeriNZ episodes soon.

This is a short episode, mostly to tell you about something special I did today. I’ll be sharing something on this podcast feed in a couple days. I also have some health updates, including that I had two winter colds. There are also a couple updates to what I talked about last time.

Despite a few obstacles, I’m back. Again. Again. Well, it was one month sooner this time, so, small victories, right?! I start out talking about a new baby, then changes to this podcast and all things AmeriNZ, and to me, too. Lots of things are changing! I have details.

Despite a few obstacles, I’m back. First, though, I give the end of the story I talked about in the previous episode: New Zealand got a government. Mainly, though, I talke about the several obstacles to my being able to podcast (or blog, for that matter).

The New Zealand General Election happened, but we don’t have a government yet. That’s my first, and main, topic today. I also talk a bit about a big commemoration of a famous battle in World War One. I have unusual feelings about it.

This is the final podcast I recorded before the New Zealand General Election, and the short version is that the election’s a toss-up. I talk about why that is, some possible scenarios, and some of the things that may change that.

Special Note: To comply with New Zealand Election Law, I will not respond to any comments between the hours of 12am and 7pm NZST Saturday, September 23, 2017. I will attempt to turn on comment moderation, and if I’m successful, all comments will be held in a queue until after 7pm NZST Saturday, September 23, 2017 (maybe even later, because I’ll be watching election result coverage…)

Change is continuing in the New Zealand election campaign, so much so that I could almost do a daily podcast on it and not run out of material. A lot has changed since my last podcast episode, and I mainly talk about that today. This episode has 98% less talk about the details of political polls!